Mayor's Race Not Quite As Hot As First Predicted

ON THE BEAT Robin Fields

Oops ... We were a touch prematurein our reporting of the Boynton Beach mayoral sweepstakes.

Former Mayor Jim Warnke and city board member Jerry Taylor have indeed declared their intention to run and have opened bank accounts for any campaign money they may raise.

But they will not be official candidates until they submit petitions with signatures of 25 registered voters. They can do this no earlier than noon Jan. 31.

No one other than Warnke and Taylor is openly committed to running.

According to City Clerk Sue Kruse, Former Mayor Gene Moore requested the petition form, board member Sid Rosen asked how to have checks printed for a campaign account and former commissioner Lee Wische stopped by to make sure none of the rules had changed since he ran before.

While rumors that Commissioner David Katz intends to run for mayor have circulated for months, Katz himself has been mum. He has neither requested filing papers nor announced his intentions.

Also, the mayor's job is not the only one up for grabs. (Current Mayor Ed Harmening can't run for re-election because the city's term limitations prohibit more than two consecutive, two-year terms.)

Commissioner Jose Aguila has served the maximum allowable time in District 3 and Katz is up for re-election after serving a two-year term in District 1. --

Champion givers...Once again, Boynton Beach has benefited from the generosity of Hunter's Run residents.

The community donated $4,800 to four city departments on Tuesday: $1,700 to the Police Department for bicycles and a large-screen television to show training films; $1,000 for the Parks and Recreation Department for a chair that allows disabled children to go to the beach; $600 to the Fire Department for "Jaws of Life" equipment; and $1,500 (with another $1,500 promised) to the City Library for computer equipment.

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Don't play with fire, trucks, that is... Minutes after the Delray Beach City Commission voted 3-2 to turn over its emergency medical service care and transportation of patients to the Delray Beach Fire Department on Tuesday, a fire truck passed near City Hall sounding its horn and sirens.

At the time, Chief Bob Rehr and other fire officials were in City Hall's lobby shaking hands and accepting congratulations from supporters.

Some spectators thought fire officials on the street had gotten the word and were sounding the sirens in celebration, but Doug Trawick, a spokesman for the fire department, set the record straight.

"We don't play games with the sirens," he said. "When you hear it, it is for real."

The fire department's plan eliminates Bethesda Ambulance Service from a two-tier system that calls for fire paramedics to respond to 911 and to treat patients at the scene. Paramedics rely on the ambulance company to transport the patients to hospitals.

Mayor Tom Lynch and City Commissioner Jay Alperin voted against the plan. Alperin said he was disappointed in the Fire Department's presentation. Some of his questions were never answered, he said.

Lynch said he was angry at the way city officials handled the proposals from the fire department and from Bethesda Ambulance Service. He said city officials went too far by lobbying homeowners for support, and they were biased because they did not allow Bethesda to respond to the city's findings.

Lynch also said he was concerned about giving more power to fire officials.

"They have been difficult to deal with," he said. "The more power we give them, the more difficult it will be for us to deal with them as a commission."